Sleepless in Midland

Did HEB get woke?

The CEO of Goya said nice things about Donald Trump, and the mob called for a boycott against Goya.

To counteract the radicals, I planned to purchase a couple of cans of Goya garbanzo beans and make some hummus. But at the local HEB today, there was not a single can of Goya beans of any kind on the shelves in the canned bean section. Not a one.

Of course it's possible that they were simply currently out of supply. Restocking has been a challenge during the Coronavirus panic. However one has to wonder if HEB did this intentionally. I'll keep checking. If HEB is boycotting Goya that would be disappointing.

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2:35 PM 7/13/2020

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99 bottles of beer on the wall, make that cans, please

For a heavy beer drinker 99 bottles is probably a good start. But for the rest of us it's a bit much.

But by golly, Pabst has come out with a 99 can pack. Although the cans don't quite hit the right note for the song, it's a good gimmick, nonetheless.

Pabst Blue Ribbon Is Selling a Limited-Edition 99-Pack of Beer for the Party That Never Ends. Quote:

Ever wonder what 99 cans of beer looks like? Probably not, but now you have the answer — because Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) has a pack filled with that many cans of beer.

The limited-edition pack first hit Quebec just in time for Christmas in 2017, but it looks like it has hit the United States for the 2019 holiday season. However, it appears that it’s a pretty exclusive item, so you might have to search a bit. We’ll keep you updated when you get confirmation on distribution.

A drinking buddy in college days used to recite the message he said was on the label, "Pabst Blue Ribbon, selected as America's Best in 1893." Well, OK then.

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3:08 PM 11/23/2019

Nuts to you -- uh, for your health

I'm crazy about nuts -- cashews, pecans, almonds, walnuts, peanuts, etc. And nut butter? Yum!

So it's probably confirmation bias that drew me to this article: Study: A Daily Dose Of Nuts Could Be Key To Staying Sharp In Old Age. Key finding:

Conducted at the University of South Australia, the study found that consuming more than 10 grams of nuts per day led to improved mental functioning and thinking, and better memory and reasoning. The study consisted of 4,822 Chinese adults aged 55 or older.

Ten grams isn't much, though, hardly enough for a snack. But who knows? Maybe more is better.

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4:21 PM 7/20/2019

PETA says don't hurt chickens' feelings by naming road Chicken Dinner Road

This is one of those feel good stories that convince us that lefty groups like PETA shouldn't be taken seriously. Seems that they want a municipality to rename a rural road. Here's the news item: PETA asks Idaho town to rename Chicken Dinner Road.

Who knew chicken's could get their feelings hurt?

As for how the road got that name, see this one from 2013: The true story of Chicken Dinner Road. Spoiler -- the governor promised to come to a farm house for dinner if they would repair the road. From then on the road became known as "Chicken Dinner Road."

Mmm. chicken! Makes me want to make a run to America's favorite fast food restaurant, Chick-fil-A.

Meanwhile, if this is the worst chicken abuse PETA can find, then their job is done.

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4:33 PM 7/5/2019

Chocolate lovers can relax -- no chocolate shortage after all

A while back the msm were warning us about the coming shortage of chocolate, or more specifically, cocoa beans, due to climate change. Seems that the predicted warming trends would shrink the territory in which the beans can grow, and thus, a shortage.

But it's always dangerous to put a date in doomsday predictions, and 2020 is coming right up. To its credit, even the left leaning site Snopes.com was cautioning that we should wait for more information in Worldwide Chocolate Shortage? Rumor: The world will run out of chocolate by 2020.

Sure enough, the predictions are looking very wrong. See What Chocolate Shortage? Cocoa Prices Steady as Record Output Projected. Paywalled but excerpted here. To wit:

The world appears to have averted a chocolate shortage, upending the rally that made cocoa the best-performing commodity in 2018.

Last year, prices of cocoa futures soared by 28% on repeated warnings by analysts that chocolate would be in limited supply in 2020 because of a scarcity of cocoa beans.

But cocoa prices are relatively unchanged since the start of 2019. As of Tuesday, they were trading on the Intercontinental Exchange in New York at $2,360 a metric ton, down 2.3% this year.

Prices have steadied as weather in major cocoa-growing regions has been conducive to production. Supply is outpacing demand for a third year in a row, according to the latest projections from the International Cocoa Organization.

Oh, that chocolate doomsday? It's been postponed to 2050.

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10:54 AM 6/9/2019

Personalized diet thru DNA

Our moms always urged us to eat healthy food. But what is or isn't healthy changes from time to time based on research and probably a bit of whim of the government employees whose job it is to publish guidelines.

With that in mind, it was interesting that George H.W. Bush, who lived 94 years, famously hated and refused to eat broccoli. We've always been told how good broccoli is supposed to be for us. Yet Bush lived a long life without any of that benefit. Go figure.

Anyway, there's a company that seeks to offer customers a diet plan which meets their exact bodily needs. They analyze customers DNA and other elements in their blood, then they prescribe a particular diet based on the nutritional needs they've gleaned from that analysis. It's a California company called Habit, LLC . The DNA test kit is a bit pricey at $299 plus shipping. They want to sell the customer meals, too, unless the customer opts out of that feature.

It might be a good deal, even at that price, for people who eat whatever the latest health fads demand. And those picky eaters who want to know the ideal combination of the basic food groups that their bodies need might get some benefit. As for me, I'll stick with mom's advice and eat my broccoli.

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1:44 PM 3/31/2019

Eggs -- once good for you, then bad, then good again, now bad

Here's Ryan W. Miller at USA Today, Eggs linked to higher risk of heart disease and early death, study says:

Are eggs good for you? The long-standing dairy discussion may have more answers, and it looks like bad news for egg lovers.

A new study suggests people with a higher consumption of eggs or cholesterol may be at a higher risk for cardiovascular disease and early death.

And here's Marla Paul at Eating Eggs and Cholesterol Linked to Heart Disease and Death Risk:

The new study looked at pooled data on 29,615 U.S. racially and ethnically diverse adults from six prospective cohort studies for up to 31 years of follow up and found:

-Eating 300 mg of dietary cholesterol per day was associated with 17 percent higher risk of incident cardiovascular disease and 18 percent higher risk of all-cause deaths. The cholesterol was the driving factor independent of saturated fat consumption and other dietary fat.
-Eating three to four eggs per week was associated with 6 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease and 8 percent higher risk of any cause of death.

It's the yolks that contain the cholesterol. So it may still be safe to eat milk carton egg whites. Oh, and hold the bacon.

P.S. Here a link to the abstract of the JAMA article they're relying on.

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3:10 PM 3/17/2019

Wonderful world of chemistry -- artificial whiskey

The realization that everything is made up of molecules, and their arrangement is what distinguishes fine wines from low quality wines, led a San Francisco biotech engineer to speculate that he could make wine and champagne in the lab that tasted the same as the expensive stuff. But the team's work was complicated by complaints from a representative from the company that owns Dom Périgno as well as regulations on just what could be called wine.

They moved on to whiskey and set out to make a product that tasted as good as or better than Pappy Van Winkle’s 20-Year-Old Family Reserve. Turns out it wasn't that hard. They isolated the flavors of whiskey and found chemicals that replicated those flavors. Add them to ethanol, and that's their whiskey called "Glyph," made in the lab by their company, Endless West.

Read all about it in An Exclusive First Taste of Lab-Made Whiskey.

Hmm, lab made whiskey would probably go well with lab grown steak.

Meanwhile, the brand name whiskey makers aren't too proud to flavorize their own products, e.g., Crown Royal Texas Mesquite:

Crown Royal Texas Mesquite is a blend of Crown Royal Deluxe infused with the smoky soul of locally sourced Texas mesquite wood. The result is a unique flavor that is smoky and spicy with the distinctive smoothness of Crown Royal.

"Smoky soul of locally sourced Texas mesquite wood." Now there's a colorful euphemism some ad man came up with for chemical flavor.

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3:12 PM 12/30/2018

Happy Festivus 2018

Today, December 23, 2018, is Festivus, for those who celebrate it.

Purists will want to participate in the full program: the Festivus pole, the airing of grievances, the Festivus dinner, and the feats of strength. But like Christmas, the celebrants of Festivus will likely pick and choose which aspects of the holiday to partake. Personally, the Festivus dinner is the only part I celebrate -- with meatloaf as an option, not an obligation.

Happy Festivus!

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5:54 AM 12/22/2018

Meat surplus reported -- So why aren't the store prices coming down?

News reports tell us this: Federal Data: US Stockpiling 2.5 Billion Pounds of Meat:

A record amount of beef, pork, poultry, and turkey - 2.5 billion pounds - is being stockpiled in U.S. facilities, federal data is expected to show, The Wall Street Journal reported.

While U.S. consumers have a growing appetite for meat, that appetite is not increasing fast enough to match the production of hogs and chickens in the U.S. meat industry, so the industry is depending more on exports, the report said.

However, Mexico and China, two of the largest foreign customers for U.S. meat, have set tariffs on pork products in response to U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum, and other goods. U.S. hams, chops, and livers have become more expensive in those markets, which is slowing down sales, said industry officials.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation projected that U.S. beef exports to China could have reached $400 million in four years, Fortune noted.

The growing stockpiles and the trade risk could cause "one of the biggest corrections we’ve seen in the industry in several years," Christine McCracken, protein analyst at agricultural lender Rabobank, told the Journal.

Facilities are being built and expanded to store the meat frozen. (Aside: What percentage of the poultry, pork, and beef in markets is or was frozen? If one assumes those labels that say "never frozen" are the extent of the products that were never frozen, then it must be a pretty high percentage.)

Meanwhile, they are blaming Trump's tariffs for this market condition. Well, I for one am ready to loosen my belt and eat more poultry once the prices go down to reflect the surplus. They haven't yet, but I'm ready to do what I can to make America great again.

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12:21 PM 7/24/2018

Army MREs are getting a tasty upgrade

"An army marches on its belly." That famous quote has been attributed to various warriors ranging from Frederick the Great to Napoleon Bonaparte. And military planners throughout history knew how important it was to keep the fighters fed.

These days the MRE is the standard field ration. And they are getting a makeover. See Here's Everything in the New Pizza MRE, Headed to the Field Soon. They appear to be simple foods sealed in a vacuum package. That's something anyone can produce at home, so there had to be more to it.

So note this interesting factoid from After years of anticipation, the pizza MRE is finally coming to the field:

All MREs need to have a shelf life of at least three years when stored at 80 degrees or below in order to be viable as an option, according to the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center. ...

Here's how they conducted a speedy test for that duration:

MREs are placed in a 100-degree box for six months during testing in order to simulate the three-year life span at under 80 degrees. The mass produced pizzas were turning brown under the testing, a problem that had not surfaced during the initial testing of the lab-made pizzas.

The browning was not a safety issue, but more of a quality issue.

“We want to make sure we give [troops] a quality product,” Natick spokesman David Accetta told Army Times in February.

Officials later found a fix for the browning — rosemary extract.

Mmmmm! Vacuum packed pizza!

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1:34 PM 6/2/2018

Domino's franchise owner Jim Gerety in the pages of Washington Examiner

Readers of this blog might remember Jim Gerety as the generous Domino's franchise owner who feeds the volunteers for free at the AirSho at the Midland International Air and Space Port. (That "space port" part has become a local joke, but that's the name, nonetheless.)

Mr. Gerety has earned the gratitude of a lot of volunteers. But he has a problem with the government. See On pizza regulations, Trump slices differently than his own FDA commissioner by Mr. Gerety. Excerpt:

As the owner of 18 Domino’s stores in Texas, I do not cut corners, whether on pizzas or complying with the law. Unfortunately, on May 7 the law will become especially burdensome and unhelpful to my customers. That day, President Trump’s FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb will implement a nationwide, Obama-era menu-labeling rule requiring restaurants with 20 or more locations to post in-store menu boards listing the calories of every item sold.

First, the rule fails to account for how my customers actually order pizza in the real world out here in West Texas. Unlike other food establishments that have static menu options, pizza is highly variable: Domino’s offers consumers 34 million different combinations of pizza.

In addition, Domino’s customers do 90 percent of their ordering remotely — either online (Web and app) or by phone. I estimate that I will have to spend approximately $5,000 annually per store to put up compliant menu boards. I’m talking possibly $90,000 to invest in signage that less than 10 percent of my customers actually will see, and less than that actually will use.

Second, the costs of the rule to my employees and me could be excessive, with the greatest beneficiaries of these costs being trial lawyers. This is because Gottlieb’s rule exposes my employees and me to civil and criminal penalties of up to one year in prison and/or a $100,000 fine for inadvertent violations.

That means if one of us accidentally tops a pizza with too much pepperoni or cheese, or is a little heavy-handed with the tomato sauce on a given day, we could be headed to prison.

I know many supporters of the rule would argue that’s an outrageous claim, but FDA has offered no information or clarity except: “Trust us.”

Domino’s online Cal-O-Meter seems like a useful feature and a good replacement for the wall boards. But the rule requiring the menu boards is still in place. So, "Now my employees and I need Trump to weigh in."

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2:04 PM 4/24/2018

Starbucks to educate employees on race bias -- time would be better spent teaching them how to brew coffee

The other day I complained about the bitter tasting coffee I got at a Starbucks coffee bar and noted that it's no wonder that their customers prefer those sweetened, flavored coffees the store sells so many of. My diagnosis was that the coffee I was served had been overheated. Cook coffee too long or at too hot a temperature and the result is bitter tasting coffee.

Anyway, I was amused to read this: Starbucks to close all company-owned stores on the afternoon of May 29 for racial-bias education day.

Starbucks' executives are so woke they don't need coffee to stay awake. They've got their lefty agenda to promote, but they would do better for the stockholders and customers if they put the time into teaching better coffee brewing techniques.

Previously: How good is Starbucks coffee, really?

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2:22 PM 4/17/2018

How good is Starbucks coffee, really?

The worst coffee I've ever tasted -- actually I drank it anyway -- was a cup I purchased from a machine at a Stripes roadside convenience store. Coffee brewer tip: if the coffee gets too hot or stays heated too long, it gets that awful, bitter taste.

I'm in possession of a Starbucks gift card and used it the other day at a Starbucks counter inside a grocery market. I wanted plain black coffee without sugar or milk. The barista recommended an Americano, and I went with that.

So it was black enough, contained no sugar, and contained no milk. But oh, was it bitter! It rivaled the Stripes coffee.

It's no wonder Starbucks customers love those sugary, flavored, coffee drinks. That's what it takes to make bitter coffee palatable.

P.S. The Americano is supposed to be an expresso, however a properly made expresso should not be bitter. Most likely it was over heated. The proper brewing temperature for coffee should be between 195 to 205 degrees Fahrenheit, but if you prefer the bitter taste, then cook the hell out of it. That should do the trick.

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2:04 PM 4/11/2018

Would a better name encourage more Americans to eat crickets?

There's an interesting, common sense, article explaining the importance of giving foods appealing names for marketing purposes: Why Picky Eaters Are Partial to Calamari and Not Squid.

It reminded me of a "Shark Tank" episode that reran recently in which an entrepreneur was peddling an interest in his cricket protein bar company. He bought his crickets from a cricket ranch which raised them for fish bait. Not surprisingly, most of the sharks couldn't get past the YECCH factor.

Mark Cuban was interested, though, and he ended up buying 15% of the company for $50,000. Chapul Update – See What Happened After Shark Tank.

A friend and I sampled some chocolate coated crickets when we were teens. And as I recall, they weren't that bad, although adding enough chocolate and sugar can make practically anything edible.

In any event, as of this writing, Amazon seems to have sold out of the bars, however, they are being offered at Chapul.com at a price of four for $13 plus shipping.

They're betting that "Chapul" is the right name to pull in customers. Well, it's better than "ground up fish bait."

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12:40 PM 2/20/2018

New rules at EU said to make it easier to serve insects to customers

Those of us who lean libertarian oppose governments picking and choosing winning businesses by way of regulation. So a relaxation of regulations is always welcome. In the EU the regs against bugs in food haven't really been deregulated, merely unified. See New EU rules put insects on the menu:

Under previous rules on new types of food (the so-called novel foods regulation, which governs products mostly unknown to Europeans before 1997, such as quinoa), it was unclear whether producers could market whole insects for human consumption, rather than just insect wings, for example. National governments also had to green-light food made from insects, splintering regulations across the bloc as Italy outlawed insect burgers while the Netherlands didn’t.

In my neck of the woods idea bugs as food was something one might consider in an extreme food shortage. During normal times it takes a certain amount of sophistication to actively seek out bugs to eat. But hey, if you like 'em, eat 'em.

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1:58 PM 1/20/2018

Shoppers stripped store shelves for Harvey prep -- left behind one category of food

Anyone who has ever lived in a hurricane prone region has experienced the run on groceries after the weather forecasters have created the customary panic. The last time I experience one the only items left on the shelves were canned beats.

So this post at ijr.com struck me as funny. See photos of the store shelves at Texan Posts Photos of Absolutely Barren Grocery Store After Hurricane, With One Hilarious Exception.

SPOILER ALERT! That one category was refrigerated vegetarian fake meat. Very telling.

Editor's note. Next time look for canned beats. Robo-ed.

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1:01 PM 9/8/2017

Ron Paul is shilling for system that preserves food 25 years -- he's one optimistic pessimist

Ron Paul has radio commercials in which he shills for Harvest Right, the company that makes a freeze dryer for home use. Dr. Paul proclaims that freeze drying food will preserve it for 25 years.

Cue the irony detectors. Paul is pessimistic enough to think he needs to preserve food for as long as 25 years. He's 81 years old. Now that is one optimistic pessimist.

What is it about the word "no" that women don't understand when they're dispensing cake and ice cream?

Yesterday I attended a going away party for a friend, and as advertised, there was abundant cake and ice cream. There were well meaning women who cut the cake, put it on plates, and carried the pieces around to the attendees. Kudos to them. They were so kind.

However, I'm avoiding sweets and didn't intend to eat any of it in spite of the numerous, kind, offers. Too bad a simple "No thank you" was not a satisfactory answer. Over and over again I had to explain that I didn't want any and face down the look of someone who thinks I'm crazy. It grew tiresome.

No means no. What is it about the word "no" that women don't understand?

Post script. I remembered a former alcoholic friend who quit going to his favorite restaurant. The reason, he explained, was that they practically forced him to drink. I scoffed at that at the time. But now it makes perfect sense.

Coffee more than a hangover helper -- may reduce chance of cirrhosis

This seems like a combination made in heaven -- coffee and booze. According to nypost.com, Drinking more coffee may reverse liver damage from booze. Excerpt:

Cirrhosis involves a hardening and destruction of liver tissue and kills more than 1 million people every year worldwide. It can be caused by hepatitis infections, excessive alcohol consumption, immune disorders and fatty liver disease, which is tied to obesity and diabetes.

Kennedy and colleagues did a pooled analysis of average coffee consumption across earlier studies to see how much adding two additional cups each day might influence the odds of liver disease.

Combined, the studies included 1,990 patients with cirrhosis.

In eight of the nine studies analyzed, increasing coffee consumption by two cups a day was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of cirrhosis.

In all but one study, the risk of cirrhosis continued to decline as daily cups of coffee climbed.

Compared to no coffee consumption, researchers estimated one cup a day was tied to a 22 percent lower risk of cirrhosis. With two cups, the risk dropped by 43 percent, while it declined 57 percent for three cups and 65 percent with four cups.

A mixture of alcohol and coffee might seem like the perfect drink, and there are plenty of recipes available. They all seem a little bit too heavy on cream, sugar, or both, but your tastes may vary.

Cheers.

So I just finished a huge meal of bad-for-you food -- is that so wrong?

Well, yes and no. But so what? I'm orthorexic but getting better.

Orthorexia is an unofficial eating disorder characterized by a fixation on eating right and feelings of guilt and self loathing after eating a plateful of bad-for-you food, with seconds and dessert.

Andrea Ruth has the right ideas and shares them in 5 Ways To Deal With Holiday Food. To wit:

1. Have a Plan or Goal (but don't set an unrealistic goal)
2. Treat Yo Self (but do it sparingly)
3. Have a Little Bit of Everything (but use the three bite rule)
4. Move It or Lose It (exercise)
5. Relax (don't beat yourself up too much when you fall off the wagon, but do go back to the plan)

OK, sounds reasonable. I'll get back to the plan first thing tomorrow. Right now I'd like a big dish of that Blue Bell ice cream that just made it back on the store shelves.

Same great taste! Same great price! Now in a smaller container!

This would be Folgers coffee. You may have noticed that the container size has gotten smaller. This morning I happened to see Folgers coffee at a big box store, and they had plenty of the new, smaller containers. But there were two of the old, larger, containers nestled on the shelf along with the new ones. I bought both of the big ones for the same price the store was charging for the smaller ones, $8.59.

The small one says it contains 24.2 ounces. The larger one says it contains 27.8 ounces. The calculator says the new, small one sold for $0.35 per ounce, and the large one sold for $0.31 per ounce. It's not a huge difference for the occasional shopper, but you know it means a lot of money for Folgers.

Meanwhile, the price of coffee as a commodity is going down. Too bad they couldn't pass the savings along to the consumer.

Real men eat chili peppers -- science

Hey, I don't make this stuff up. Men who like spicier food are 'alpha males' with higher levels of testosterone, French report claims. Excerpt:

Scientists at the highly-respected University of Grenoble have published a report suggesting that regular consumption of chili peppers may raise levels of the hormone, which is believed to make men more adventurous, enterprising and sexually active. ...

Professor Begue said 114 men aged from 18 to 44, living in Grenoble, in south-eastern France, had taken part in the study.

Their testosterone levels were measured from saliva samples and they were presented with a plate of mashed potatoes and invited to add chili sauce to taste. Those who added the most hot sauce had the highest testosterone.

Mmmm, hot sauce.

Hump day is so ho hum, Taco Tuesday is the one to wait for

Yeah, I know. The Geico hump day commercials were pretty good. Who doesn't love a wise cracking camel?

But that's yesterday's news. Taco Tuesday is the new "it" day. It's at Rosa's in Midland, Texas, and wherever else Rosa has locations. And at $3.69 on Tuesdays for three tacos, rice and beans -- comes to $3.99 with tax -- it's the best deal in town.

Wait, I'm confused. Tuesday was yesterday. Today is Wednesday. Today is "yesterday's news?" -- Robo-ed | Sometimes you just have to enjoy the energy of a good cliche without over thinking it. -- Sleepless.

The streets ran wet with beer

This happened yesterday morning at a busy intersection in Midland, Texas.

I was driving toward the intersection and noticed a commotion ahead. As I got closer it became apparent that there were hundreds of cans of Bud Light loose out in the street. Apparently, the driver of an overloaded pickup truck hauling cases of Budweiser beer hit a bump, swerved or something, and a portion of his load left the vehicle on its own.

It was quite a scene. Beer cans everywhere, people scrambling, cars blocking the street.

I scurried home and retrieved a camera, but by the time I got back all that was left was a bunch of cans on the island and the hapless driver gently placing them into the back of the truck. We don't know what happened to those cans. Did they get discarded? Put in someone's fridge? Put on the store shelves?

At any rate, if you attend a party this Independence Day, and the unopened can of beer in your hand shows some road rash, be sure to point it in a safe direction before flipping the tab.

Spuds McKenzie, go home boy,  go home!

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Cooking cookies in a hot car -- does that work?

Found this photo here, and it actually looks doable.

But at least one recipe says chocolate chip cookies need to be cooked 10 minutes at 350ºF. The inside of a car on a hot day may exceed 200ºF, but is that enough to cook a cookie?

If nothing else, it would generate a nice aroma. Forget that new car smell, it's cookies all the way home, baby!

A welcome home surprise for Army man -- wife lost 100 pounds!

Now this a feel good story!

We've all seen videos of returning soldiers hugging a wife who looks like she spent the time he was away nibbling bonbons and watching TV soaps. This is the flip side.

The 250 pound wife lost 100 pounds during the year he was in Afghanistan. But she kept it a secret and surprised him when he returned. Click to read the whole story. Meanwhile, here's an excerpt:

Misty, 24, had kept her weight loss largely a secret, telling her husband that she was trying to lose only a few pounds and sending him photos of herself from the shoulders up so he wouldn’t suspect the dramatic transformation. "There were so many times when I was dying to send him cute photos but I held back because I really wanted it to be a surprise," Misty told Yahoo! Shine. "He's never seen me this thin."

Although she barely exercised, Misty lost the weight by eating smaller portions, drinking lots of water, not eating three to four hours before bedtime and avoiding her biggest craving—potato chips. It also helped that her husband, who usually did the cooking, wasn't there to tempt her. “Misty has always struggled with her weight and my ice cream and large home-cooked meals probably contributed to that,” said Larry. “With me gone, she was able to make smaller, lighter portions. Now we compromise: A few times a week I’ll make what I want if I agree to try her healthier food.”

His unconditional support was also key. "He's never asked me to lose weight and always said he'd love me no matter what I looked like," said Misty.

Keep it up, Misty! Or rather, keep it off!

Don't rush to judgment about Jamestown cannibals

Last night on the PBS News Hour a short segment had an anthropologist named William Kelso tell us that the Jamestown settlers were cannibals. His evidence consisted of cut marks on a female's excavated skull and leg bones, and that was proof enough for him.

So it's refreshing to see some healthy skepticism in the words of Myers Mermel at DailyCaller.com. See The Jamestown Hack Job in which he raises a bunch of unanswered questions:

Do we have any other bones of hers that show cutting marks consistent with attempts to remove flesh?
Do the animal bones next to her remains in the pit show marks of butchering?
Are there any other skeletons in addition to hers discovered with cut marks?
Could she have been a victim of domestic violence?
Could she have been attacked by Indians and her corpse dragged back to the pit to be disposed?
Why was she in a trash pit in the first place?
Was she the hidden victim of a colonial “Silence of the Lambs” killer?

But there's another bigger question. What's so wrong with cannibalism if it's the only means of survival?

To kill someone for food is a definite no-no. However, there have been numerous incidents of humans eating the bodies of the dead after all other food sources were exhausted. The survivors of the plane crash in the Andes lived for months on nothing but melted snow and human meat. There were the members of the Donner Party who, penned in by a blizzard and having eaten all their livestock, ate their dead companions. The survivors of the whaleship Essex ate their dead shipmates as they drifted in their lifeboats around the Pacific Ocean.

Paging Dr. Lector. Paging Dr. Lector. -- Robo-ed.

All I'm saying is that there's an instinct for survival in all living creatures. So in an era in which obesity is much more prevalent than starvation, let's not be too judgmental.

Links:
Jamestown's 'Jane' Reflects Grim Reality of Early Settlers;
The Jamestown Hack Job;
The Andes Accident;
The Donner Party Tragedy ; and
In the Heart of the Sea, The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex.

British activists decry school's effort to teach kids where meat comes from

A couple of years ago the internet was buzzing about the low information animal lover who chastised hunters for killing animals when they could simply go to the store to buy meat were it was made without harming any animals. Link and source of clip photo.

Not to be outdone, the Brits have their share of loons, too. Seems that a school wanted to teach students where food comes from, so they acquired three little pigs that would be fed and raised by the children and eventually taken to market. See BBC.

So far so good. But then some animal rights movement got an petition and email campaign going which bombarded the school administrators with emails protesting this worthwhile lesson. See Arbroath:

Liza Moore, head of Colchester Animal Defenders, encouraged people to call the school to voice their concerns but distanced herself from any abusive comments. She criticised the school: "They are desensitising the children and teaching them that pigs are lesser beings than us, and that is not right. All beings are equal, that is how we feel as vegans. We don't think schools should push meat as a healthy food option, especially in light of the horsemeat issue."

"All being are equal." Hmm. Americans aren't the only ones living in a fairy tale. It must take a special kind of self hatred to want to upend the food chain.

Oh, just so you know, no animals were harmed by the making of this blog post.

But how did it taste? -- Horse meat unacceptable in British lasagna.

The BBC story is titled Findus beef lasagne contained up to 100% horsemeat, FSA says.

The FSA said Findus had tested 18 of its beef lasagne products and found 11 meals containing between 60% and 100% horsemeat. ...

The FSA said: "We have no evidence to suggest that this is a food safety risk. However, the FSA has ordered Findus to test the lasagne for the veterinary drug phenylbutazone, or 'bute'.

Putting aside the possibility of veterinary drugs, horse meat probably doesn't taste all that bad. And maybe those Brits who ate it actually liked it. You know, canned tuna never tasted quite the same after they took out the dolphin.

Over here in the States we couldn't complain. After all we have a twice elected president who admitted eating dog meat.